Ni Hao! (or however you say hello in Chinese)

Greetings from Markham Ontario!

There is so much to talk about and I am not really sure where to start. Forgive the all over the place-ness of this letter. First, my new area. They split the old Richmond Hill area in two so my area is a tiny bit confusing. I am in the Richmond Hill East Area but the city of Richmond Hill isn't even part of my area. I'm in the next city over called Markham and it is (according to the signs I see around) Ontario's Most Diverse Community. Yep. That means that most of the people we talk to are not from Canada (mostly Chinese) and most of them don't speak English....it keeps things interesting for sure. I serve in the Richmond Hill Ward which meets in Richmond Hill so we go to church out of our area. Its fun. I have missed being in a ward. Less drama and more member support. The ward is awesome and super diverse. I spent the first half of Elder's Quorum thinking we were learning about the Holocaust until I realized that the instructor (from Columbia) was saying Holy Ghost, not Holocaust. He said his testimony was based on this and I was very confused. Then I just felt dumb. I'll get used to it i guess. It is a great ward and they are so excited to have two sets of missionaries. I'm just worried we might start an East-West fight. :) The West side missionaries are awesome and we see them all the time. Richmond Hill and Markham are just north of Toronto. Five mintues south is Toronto and from a couple points we can see the skyline, CN Tower and all. We aren't in Stayner any more. There are 309,000 ish people in my area alone and that isn't counting the people who are moving in by the thousands and the ones outside of Markham. By comparison my last two areas combined probably had about 50,000 tops. It is a big, BIG change.

Second, apartment. We call it the dungeon. Its a nice enough place and I am happy to have a warm place to study and sleep etc but it is weird. Weird weird. The average ceiling height is 6' 10" with a plethora of random dips in the ceiling that are about 5' 8" the worst of which is between the bedroom and the washroom. This wouldn't be to bad if there were windows that let light in but we don't have them. There are three windows and they are all super high (they cut the ceiling away) and are coverd by bushes. Thats why it feels like a dungeon. And we don't get cell service which makes receiving and making calls a difficult thing. Its super great. :)

Third, my new companion. His name is Elder Hegemann (Hay-ga-men) and he is from Lehi. He is great. He is taller than me and has dark hair and I will send pictures if I ever figure out my camera. We get along great for the most part and he is a great missionary. I hope I don't ruin him....fingers crossed. 

Fourth, the work. In the old RH area they had like 5 investigators and 4 solid potentials. All but one investigator live on the West side of the 404 (the dividing line) which is....awesome. So we have one investigator named Vince and we haven't met him yet because he was busy all last week. We haven't done much teaching and I'm getting anxious. Due to the lack of people to teach we have been doing a lot of tracting and talking to people. Which as explained above is difficult because of the language barrier. We had a couple interesting run-ins with interesting people. We had a very angry English man yell and curse at us for knocking and ringing the doorbell and told us that we shouldn't wear suits "You should were red capes like the devils you are!!!" I thought it was kinda funny but it shook Elder Hegemann up pretty bad. Then a few days later we stopped a guy on the street and he was really friendly then randomly lost it and chewed me out for insulting the Lord and being in a cult. Once again, I laughed it off and went on my way but E.H. took it pretty rough. Poor Elder Hegemann. He'll build up a skin eventually. :) 

So yeah. Things are good. I survived the first week and I am doing alright. My testimony of the guidance of the Spirit has grown a ton and I can already see the changes in myself. When I look in the mirror I feel like I look like a senior companion now. Like I know what I am doing. I don't know if I do but at least I look the part eh? I love you all very much and hopefully I will have good news in the next letter! Do good things!

Love,                                                                                                                                    

Elder E. Smith.

PS My new address! 128 Hollingham Road(BSMT

                                Markham, ON

                                L3R 7V9

                     Write me!

Big News!

Dear Family and Friends,

As stated in my last letter, transfers are this week. I can't believe it. It really feels like it was just yesterday I was emailing about Elder Dite and stressing about taking over the area. Wow. Times flies when you are feeling the Spirit. So yeah the big news.........

THE NHL IS ON LOCK OUT!!!!! THE HOCKEY SEASON IS ON ICE!!! WHAT ARE WE TO DO?!?!?!? Yes you read correctly. We will be without a hockey season unless something happens fast. The Branch was buzzing yesterday it was crazy. Man. Canadians and their hockey. Oh and I'm getting transfered.

Its true. Sad but true. I have really grown to love this area and I feel like I have poured my heart and soul out here. It will be hard to leave. All joking aside, I am terrified. I am being sent to open a new area and train a new missionary. One brand new area + One brand new missionary = One stressed out Elder Smith. If I didn't trust the Lord and His plan before...I will now. Heavenly Father must trust me a whole lot to put me in this situation. After one, very long, sincere, tear-filled prayer and a very sleepless night, I think I have come to terms with the fact that this is real life. I just have to trust that this is what needs to happen. Easier said than done. So yeah. I will be serving in the new Richmond Hill East area. I don't know where it is exactly, what its like, where I'll live, what I'll eat, what I'll do... All I know for sure is that it is in Ontario and is kinda close to Toronto. We'll see.

The work in the Stayner/Midland area is great! I'm sad to leave. We have found three new investigators this week and all of them are pretty solid. Elder Dite is staying here and training his own new missionary. They are going to do so great. Baptisms left and right. ;) John went to church in Midland for all three hours again. This is really great because he usually doesn't attend if we aren't there. I was shocked when he told us. Shocked. Hopefully I will see his name in the email with the list of baptisms soon. :) Everything else is pretty same old, same old. We experienced more opposition this week than I have in my whole mission (all three months;)) We had a couple "I don't give a craps" (with much stronger words) two or three *&^%$ one very vulgar "Get away from me" and a guy on a bike riding as fast as he could at us yelling something we couldn't understand. He was drunk and its a good thing Elder Dite was there because I was going to push him off the bike as he rode past. I'm working on Christ-like love. Its a process. :) 

We were encouraged to share our testimony with our family and loved ones yesterday in sacrament meeting so I'll do that.

I know that the gospel is true. I know that by following these simple things, we come closer to our heavenly Father and we experience more joy. As we are obidient to God's commandements, we are blessed with strength and help through even the most difficult of times. I know that the scriptures are the word of God. We can turn to them in tough times and they will lift us up. The principles taught in the Book of Mormon will help us in our everyday lives and will make the most insurmountable of trials seem small. I know that all things are possible with God and that all we need to do is ask and live worthy of His blessings. We live in a difficult time. The world is in turmoil and the adversary is growing stronger everyday. But we have no need to fear because God is with us and we know who we are. We know the plan and there is nothing that can stop it. As we hold to the rod and keep a firm foundation, we have no need to fear. All things are possible through the grace and love of God and our Savior. I know this to be true. 

I love you all very much and I hope all goes well. Say your prayers, read your scriptures and drive safe! Do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

Pro nejlepsi rodinu (For the best family

Hello!

What a week. It went by so fast that I am having a hard time remembering what happened....

Marguerite was confirmed yesterday. She asked me to perform the ordinance and it was nerve-racking. She was so excited and is doing great. She is such a blessing in our lives. John is doing awesome. He is down to one cigarette a day still but came to all three hours of church. He is the best. We have actually become really good friends. He helped us make copies and sat with us in class. Fun fun. No change yet with Jaqueline. Or with any of our investigators for that matter. I know its not for a lack of effort on our part but things aren't happening as quickly as they were the first few weeks. We have a couple of exciting referrals this coming week. Two Non-members with member significant others have agreed to meet with us and we have one mormon.org request for visit. It should be awesome. We are always looking for people to teach and so we are very excited. The only problem is all three are in Midland. That means more driving back and forth. It used to not be a big deal but we have a kilometer limit this month that should make things interesting. But, I can't complain. 

Today is Elder Dite's birthday. He is now 24. I'm teasing him for being an old man and I told him I'll push him around in a wheelchair. Haha. He is so great. I love him and I will be very sad if we get split up. Which reminds me. I can't believe I'm saying this again but transfers are next week! It does not feel like it should be happening again. I feel like it was yesterday I was getting lost on my way back from Brampton. But yeah. Next week we'll get that news. I want to stay here and stay with Elder Dite but I probably will not get my wish. Elder Dite has a feeling he will be leaving but we'll see how that all works out. Its crazy how fast time goes. 

I am feeling really good. I'm getting better at waking up on time and being focused all day. I have grown a lot this week. I have noticed that my capcity to love has increased. We have been meeting with a Less Active Family the past two ish weeks and I am blow away by how much I love them already. We have met with them three times and I just love them so much. Its not that they are super nice or open or friendly (quite the opposite really) but as I have prayed for them and tried to serve them and lift them, I have grown to love them very much. Its weird to me that I can love people I hardly know. It is so great to be able to feel just a fraction of Christ's love for others. I have been studying Jesus the Christ by Elder Talmage and it is awesome. Everytime I read it, I learn something new and I get to know the Savior more. I made a goal a few weeks ago to gain more faith in Christ and I read somewhere that as we get to know Him we will gain faith. So I prayed for a way to get to know Him and there on my desk I see Jesus the Christ and The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ  and I had a "DUH!" moment. Here are two books that help us do this and one you hand to people everyday telling them that it will help them get to know Jesus Christ and to gain faith in Him. So I have been studying those more and striving to know my Savior better. It has really helped me. I know that as we get to know Christ, our faith in Him grows and our desire to follow Him grows. We are blessed as we follow Jesus Christ.

Sorry this letter is short and lame ish. I usually have time to think about what I want to say all week and then I know what to talk about but this week went by so fast I didn't plan anything. Sorry. I love you all very much and I pray for you every night! Work hard and do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

Czech Phrase of the Week: "I have a shard in my head." Elder Dite got a headache for his birthday. I told him I would "pull it out" for him and he said "No. I'll just pray." What faith!

Canada Fact: Marquee signs for business are often black with white or neon colored letters instead of white with black letters. 

Hi

My dearest Family and Friends,

I do not know where the time is going. These past weeks have FLOWN by! I feel like I was emailing you all yesterday. Wow.

This week was great!.....I'm struggling to remember why....So much has happened and I'm not sure exactly what has happened since the last time I wrote. OH! DUH! Nicole has accepted the invitation to be baptized! She is super super great and I'm not just saying that. She has a solid testimony already and knows that everything is true. As difficult as quitting smoking etc will be for her, she knows that it is what she needs to do. I'm so excited! John is also doing wonderful. He is down to one cigarette per day and is pretty committed to being baptized on the 30th. This is like his seventh baptismal date but we feel really good about it and so does he. Pray super super hard for him. The progress for him in the last few weeks has been absolutely astounding. I love being a missionary. :)  Marguerite is still doing great. We taught her yesterday as prep for Sunday and receiving the Holy Ghost and we had planned to give her a few chapters to study. When we got there she said she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be studying so she just found some chapters in the index and had studied those. The ones she studied were THE EXACT SAME as the ones we had planned for her. We had to scramble to find some others for her and the lesson after that went well. She is amazing. Jacqueline still hasn't told her parents. School is starting soon for her and we won't be able to meet with her very often at all :( I'm worried. All we can can do now is pray and hope for the best. We are still doing a ton of tracting and OYM-ing. (OYM means open your mouth and just talk with everyone.) It is hard to do but I am slowly growing to enjoy it. Weird how that works out, eh? We met some interesting people yesterday. Our friend Kevin was talking with a man at a gas station on Sunday and he was interested so he told us to go over and talk with him. His name is Bernie and he is sweet. He is an older man from Scotland (I think) and has the remnants of an accent (because he has been in Canada so long) and boy can he talk. He just goes and goes and goes, throwing out scripture reference after reference and he talks to everyone who comes into the station. He was a Protestant and then a Catholic and now he's a Born-Again and he tells everyone his story and follows up every point with "It's pretty simple." Every. Point. It's hilarious. So Elder Dite and I have been saying it all day and laughing. We would love to teach him but I don't know if we'll ever be able to get a word in. :) We met another guy who says that if we (meaning people in general) have the truth, we should be crawling over broken glass to tell people. We told him that we had the truth and would love to share it with him and he said he was interested. We are going to contact him this week and talk with him. Both of the guys we met were extremely passionate about God and making sure everybody knew that he existed. They would be great missionaries.

We had Zone Conference this week and it was great. It was my first and I was very excited. I love being with other missionaries. It reminds me that this is all real and that my companion and I aren't the only ones. It was great but featured a little too much me for my liking. President Scott asked us all to prepare a talk and then called on us at random (by the Spirit) to speak. Of course I got called up and spoke. It was good, I guess. I was just very happy I prepared. I spoke about being exactly obedient and how it is important to be constantly striving to be better and to never lower our guard and how all 2000 of the stripling warriors were exactly obedient and all 2000 survived. Just like them, if we put in our effort and do our best, we will be blessed. I was also asked to do a musical number with four other Elders and that was fun. It was actually "I Need Thee Every Hour" which is the Hymn we sang as a family in sacrament meeting right before I left. *single tear* Memories. :) Then I was asked to give the closing prayer. It was great but next time I hope I don't get called on as much.

I am doing much better this past week and a half. It really is incredible how easy things are when we forget ourselves and just go to work. I am continually astounded by the happiness I feel when I finish a day and I haven't been thinking about myself and how I feel the whole time. I'm so grateful for that counsel. I can promise you that when we forget ourselves and take care of others, we will be taken care of. I was worried that if I forgot myself and focused on the work I would love my family less or lose the relationships or the memories but as I have truly tried to put my mission first, the memories grow fonder and the relationships grow stronger. I don't think I have missed my family and friends and Utah more than I have this week but I don't think I have loved them this much either. I have been almost overwhelmed with love the past week. I'm not sure that makes sense but just know that I love you all VERY VERY much. More than I thought possible. :) Emotions are weird. Anyways....I have a strong testimony that the Lord blesses his missionaries. He will not ask us to do anything that will be bad or will hurt us. He will bless all of us as we are obedient to His guidance and counsel. When we are converted and we put our trust in Him, He will heal us. Nothing is impossible with God and Jesus Christ on our side. I know without a doubt that it is true. I love you all very much and I hope that all goes well. Keep on keeping on and never forget who you are. Do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

P.S. Hymns are great. Three of my favorite: 114 Come Unto Him, 115 Come Ye Disconsolate, 337 O Home Beloved. Not necessarily the tunes but the lyrics are great.

Czech Phrase of the Week: Neboť viz, toto je dílo mé a sláva má – uskutečniti nesmrtelnost a věčný život člověka. I'm working on it. :)

Canada Fact: They use the Old English spelling here. Favourite, Colour, Flavour, Centre, etc. Also checking is chequing.

Luvs!